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Dave Winer Misses The Point With Fahrenheit 9/11

Dave
Winer the founder of RSS and a popular
member of the so-called blogosphere writes:

Yesterday on NPR they played an excerpt where he confronts members of
Congress and asks if they would send their children to fight in Iraq.
What a ridiculous question. No parent will say yes to that question.
You could have asked that question on the Capitol steps during World
War II and they still wouldn't say yes. See how this cheapens the
question of whether we should be in Iraq? In a smart world, we
wouldn't be there, but it isn't because Congress people won't say yes
when confronted by a camera crew. \
\
Moore is the worst of American politics, an opportunist, an
anti-intellectual. \
\
Vote no on Moore.

With all due respect, I think Dave misses the point of Moore's
questioning. Of course it's a ridiculous question and no parent would
say yes. That's the whole point. We're sending children (primarily of
the poorer sections of society) to fight and die based on conspicuously
absent evidence. Where are the WMDs? Where is the tie to Al Queda? Yet
our Congress and the President so cavalierly send these troops to Iraq.
Would they be so cavalier if their own children were in any danger of
being sent to Iraq? The point of the question is to emphasize that these
aren't faceless people we're sending. We're sending the sons of
daughters of fellow Americans. The point is to get these Congress
members to consider the pain they would feel if their own sons and
daughters were sent.

As for WWII, I don't believe comparing the Iraq conflict to World War II
is a useful comparison. First of all, we were attacked by the enemy we
engaged. Iraq did not attack us, Al Queda did. In that effort, kids
under 18 faked documents in order to join the effort. People were proud
to serve or have their kids serve. It was widely seen as a just and
necessary war.